Early Voting Begins Friday In Oklahoma Elections

Early voting for the Aug. 28 Oklahoma primary runoff elections and a Pocola special election starts Friday, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.

At stake are the Republican and Democratic nominees for the District 2 U.S. House of Representatives seat being vacated by Congressman Dan Boren, D-Muskogee. Boren is the sole Democrat representing Oklahoma in Washington. He has held the seat since 2004. Oklahoma’s District 2 encompasses 25 counties, including LeFlore and Sequoyah counties.

The LeFlore County town of Pocola is holding a nonpartisan special election to fill its vacant Ward 4 trustee seat.

Voters who wish to cast early ballots may do so at their county Election Board Office from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday Aug. 27.

The LeFlore County Election Board Office is at 103 N. Church St., Poteau.

The Sequoyah County Election Board Office is at 110 E. Creek St., Sallisaw.

The candidates seeking the Republican nod for the District 2 U.S. congressional seat are George Faught of Muskogee, a three-term state representative, and Markwayne Mullin of Westville, a business owner. They received the highest number of votes of the six candidates in the June 26 Republican primary race. Mullin received 42.42 percent and Faught received 23.24 percent of the district-wide vote.

The candidates seeking the Democratic nod for the U.S. congressional seat are Rob Wallace of Fort Gibson, a former state and federal prosecutor, and Wayne Herriman of Muskogee, a business owner. In their three-candidate June 26 Democratic primary race, Wallace received 46.13 percent of the vote and Herriman received 41.57 percent of the ballots cast.

To win an election in Oklahoma, at minimum candidate must receive just over 50 percent of the votes cast.

The winners of the District 2 runoffs will face each other in the Nov. 6 general election.

In the Pocola election Randy Ridner, a Pocola businessman, and Jerl Mitchell, a former Pocola trustee and mayor, are seeking to fill the year remaining in the term of former Trustee Preston Carter.

Under Oklahoma law, Carter was automatically removed from the position after he missed more than half the Pocola Board of Trustee meetings over a four-month period. Carter was on military deployment.

Runoff elections in Oklahoma are Aug. 28. The following names will be on ballots in LeFlore County for runoffs in the party primaries and a nonpartisan special election in Pocola: